After All
by Aina-chan
Summary: COMPLETE - Shinichi is finally back, so he and Ran decide they all deserve a nice rest in Okinawa. Heiji and Kazuha come along, and learn much more about each other than they expected...
1. Chapter 1: Vacation Time!!

Disclaimer: I DO own Heiji!! He's mine, so don't try to take him!!!! 

Actually, that's what I wish, but it's not the truth T_T I don't own any Detective Conan character, they belong to Aoyama Gosho. So I won't be making any money of it. Nope. (Hey, it wasn't too bad to be my first disclaimer ^^U )

BTW, the events in the fic will be conditioned by things happened in the past, of which I'll someday make a story (you could call it a prequel) Some of you may be confused, but it will all come out in place ^__^

Ok, hope you enjoy reading!!

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**Chapter 1: Vacation time!!**

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"Ne, Shinichi, I still can't believe you stomped on that old lady like that", Ran told Shinichi. "You almost gave the poor woman a heart attack!" 

She looked around. "But no wonder she thought you were a thief... we kind of stand out here". Being no more than half past eight, Osaka station was full of people going to work, men and women in expensive suits entering and coming out of the trains, pushing the two teenagers and their suitcases towards the exit. "Next time we better take the next train, Shinichi".

"You're right...", he answered. "...But I could'nt help it! I didn't even see her!" _'Not that I complain, though...'_, he thought to himself, letting out a grin. He still had to remind himself of his regained height sometimes... "Well, after she found out that I was not a thief, but a detective, she was kind enough to give us directions to the exit".

Ran frowned when she saw Shinichi's grin grow wider. "I thought you said you'd be more careful about telling that to people when it's not necessary...". His grin became a sad smile when he heard that, and, seeing it, she sighed. "Well, what else could you have done when she said she'd lost her purse, but to find it for her?" She held his hand. "Come on, Mr Great Detective, now we have to find Hattori-kun, and without getting lost ourselves!"

Shinichi's grin reappeared when he felt Ran's hand with his. "Ok, ok", he said, holding her hand too. "Let's go".

After ten minutes of struggling with the crowd of salarymen going to work, the couple finally got to the street. Needles to say, their clothes were a mess now, and Ran couldn't supress a sigh when she looked at her denim skirt and white sleeveless, neck-high top. Shinichi's clothes were no better either. Dark grey jeans were not so dark anymore, and the brown short-sleeved shirt was all creased. Looking down at his feet, his trainers had also suffered changes, and were no more white, but a similar color to that of the jeans. And now her sandals...they were the same as before, but her left foot was another story... apologies accepted, but when a woman steps on you wearing high heels, you're not on the mood to smile and say "it's nothing!". High heels are _painful. _Ran sighed once more. "My new clothes... and my foot... Shinichi, next time we _definitely_ take the midday train. That was dangerous!!"

"Don't worry for the clothes... we can always get more. But I agree, it was _dangerous_". He looked at her left foot. "You ok? Looks like it hurts..."

"It hurts a little...but I can't really blame that lady, there was so many people... and besides, I know of someone who'll be willing to give it a massage..." She smiled at him, a light blush already on her cheeks. "Ne?"

Shinichi got closer to her, and put his left arm around her waist. "I'm willing to give you a massage wherever you want, of course", he told her, whispering to her ear while a smile crossed his face. Ran's blush deepened at that. "Shinichi... people will be looking at us...", she said, not daring to look directly at him for she knew what he would do next. She diverted her gaze to the other side of the street, and blushed even more at what he saw. She put a hand at Shinichi's face, and managed to form a smile while sweatdrops ran down her face. "Oh... H-hi, Hattori-kun"

***********

"You don't do _that_ in public, you know? There's people in the street"

Both of them heard it, but no one answered. Shinichi was grinning like an idiot (gomen for the expression) looking at the street, and Ran... her eyes were half closed, arms crossed under her chest, and her face was beat red. She didn't seem to like Heiji's 'welcome present for Shinichi' as much as he was...well, all for Shinichi's sake, she thought. "Hattori-kun..."

"Hai?", he asked, waiting for her to continue.

"Um... Could you turn the siren off? It's like... it's kinda unconfortable..."

"Come on, Ran, we're almost there, can't yo-" Shinichi stopped when he felt flames coming out of her eyes. "Hattori, please stop it". 

"Y-Yeah. Ayawa-han, please turn the siren off".Much better, Ran's face told him.He turned to Shinichi. "So, you like my little present? It's the best car in Osaka!"

"Sure! It's pretty fast".He said back. "By the way, How's Tôyama? I haven't heard of her since last week".

"She's fine. Don't worry about her", Heiji answered, but had an absent look on his face, which Shinichi noticed."We'll be home in five minutes, so enjoy what's left of the trip, k?" Heiji said. He smiled when he saw Shinichi's arm go around Ran's shoulders and Ran blushed, but didn't say anything more.

***********

"Tadaima!!" Heiji nearly shouted as he opened the door of his house.

"You mean there's somebody here? It's working time..." Shinichi began to say, but stopped when he heard footsteps and Kazuha came to the entrance.

"Ran-chan! Kudô-kun! You finally came!!

"Hey, I came too, you know" Heiji replied to an already Ran-hugging Kazuha. She turned to look at him, a smile on her face.

"Of course you came, this is your home, ahô". At that, Ran and Shinichi could only laugh. "I've already prepared some breakfast, so let's go sit, ok?"

As expected, Kazuha hadn't missed Shinichi's and Ran's holding hands, oh how much was she going to enjoy a nice talk to Ran! Although she had things to explain, too, concerning last week's events, and her current appearance... She let out a sigh and led them to the living room, where breakfast had been set.

When they began their breakfast, the inevitable question came out of Ran's mouth.

"Ne, Kazuha-chan, how are you?". To which she answered calmly.

"I'm fine now. Only a few bruises left here and there". She pointed to her left breast and ankle, and cleared the hair on her forehead to show an already greenish bruise on there. Then she saw Shinichi's face "But they don't even hurt now, so don't worry" she told him.

"I'm sorry, Tôyama", he told her.

"I said it's all right now! You don't need to say that, we're all alive and that's what matters, ne?" She told him, a reassuring smile on her face. There was no way they were all going into sad mode now that they could have a nice rest!

"Ok", Shinichi finally answered. And, apparently having read the girl's thoughts, he went on. "I already told you to prepare your luggage, so only this is left", and he took some papers from his bag. "How about a nice vacation in Okinawa? All paid, of course" And gave them the plane tickets, a wide Shinichi smile(R) on his face.

Now, the Osaka pair was left speechless.   
Heiji finally managed to say "and I thought I had given him the welcome of the year!"

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Well, first chapter revised ^__^ Did it improve? Was it worse? Arigatô for reading!!  



	2. Chapter 2: Ahô

Here is the second chapter!! ^__^ Usual disclaimer here, dah dah dah ;P

**Chapter 2: Ahô**

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"Well, here we are!"

The sun was already setting when Shinichi said that to the other three speechless teenagers.

They'd just got out of the taxi that drove them from the airport to the resort and unloaded their lugagge when they saw the imposing builiding in front of them. Shinichi had a wide smile on his face, proud of his chosen destination. Behind were Heiji, Kazuha, and Ran, who came next to him to get a hold of his hand. "Ne, Shinichi... isn't it a little too much? I thought you would choose some beach hostel... won't your parents get angry when they get the bill...?"

"Don't worry...", he told her, still looking at the hotel in front of them, "remember, they told us to go wherever we wanted to. I simply obeyed like the good son I am". He smiled at her. She closed her eyes and sighed.

"I guess so...". Then she turned at the Osaka couple, who was still staring at the entrance. She waved a hand in front of their faces. "Hey, Kazuha-chan... Hattori-kun..."

"Uh?" Kazuha awoke from her previous state. It was not that she hadn't been in any good hotels before, but... she cetainly didn't expect _that_ for a simple vacation. 'Well, I suppose he really wants us to have a good time...'. "Heiji, wake up! We have to check in before tomorrow, if it's possible". Ran had quit on her efforts to wake him and had gone to Shinichi again, so it was Kazuha's turn to wake him. Well, pinch his ear and job done. They too walked to Shinichi, though their faces showed very different expressions. Kazuha's face was a happy one, but Heiji's... he just wasn't himself... at least Kazuha wasn't seeing it now. But he didn't seem to mind that either. So he just kept his unusual absent look and walked to their friends.

'Still...', Kazuha kept thinking, 'they are the ones who really need the rest... I can't help but wonder why they didn't leave alone, but told us to join them... a serious talk with Ran is seriously necessary!!', she giggled to herself. Then, she looked at Heiji, who was a few steps behind her. Well, Heiji's body, because his mind seemed to be in another place... 'What is he _thinking_? He's like always, but when he looks at me, he becomes all moody... ever since... then... and he just isn't himself!! I -'

Good evening, and welcome to Manza Beach Hotel! May I help you?, a cute receptionist, permanent smile always on her face, asked, effectively interrupting Kazuha's train of thoughts, to what she didn't know whether to thank her or... no, thank her. Definitely. The Osaka girl waited near Ran's side for Shinichi to say something; he had organized the trip and was the one to adress the kind woman behind the counter. Otagawa was her name, she noticed by the card she had in her uniform. 

Good evening. Yes, I have a reservation for Kudô Shinichi told her.

Kudô? Sure. Just wait a minute, please She said while typing at the reception computer. Here it is. Rooms 923 and 925, am I correct? She smiled at him, already knowing why he had explicitly asked for those rooms.

Shinichi smiled back at her. That's it, thank you very much. He picked up the cardkeys of the said rooms, and turned to the others. So, how about we go to the rooms and unpack? The bags feel quite heavy, and I'm quite tired. He gave a card to each one. "Here, in case we split up, or lose one card. Let's go!".

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Shinichi, you didn't tell me we'd be staying in THESE rooms!!

Ran's exclamation was justified. Shinichi, being who he is, had to pick the hotel suites. They were nearly as big as her own house! Of course, Shinichi only put on his already famous Shinichi Smile ®. 

And what did you expect, a lousy double room on the third floor? If I say vacation, it's really vacation!! We have a whole week for us in these rooms, and we're going to enjoy it!

Oh, I suppose I can't complain then Ran said. No use argueing now, she thought, and took another look at her suite. The entrance led them to the spacious living room, where a sofa and two armchairs surrounded a low table. On that table were a plate with fruit (courtesy of the hotel) and a bottle of champagne with two glass cups. 'Heh, Shinichi didn't told them of our age...', she thought at that. Kazuha had also seen it, apparently, for the funny look on her face. At the front wall was a big TV, with the remote control on top of it. A wall at the left of the main door separated the living room of the bedroom, a doorless wide space in the middle being the link of the two rooms. Going through it, she faced the two big beds that were next to each other, with no space between them. At her left were a desk with its chair and a window (seasight!), and at the right a wardrobe and the door to the bathroom, which Kazuha opened.

"Wow!", she exclaimed. And she had reason for that: the bathroom honored the suite's name, and the bath rivaled a pool! (Well, maybe not a pool. But it was _big_). In the bedroom, the other three teenagers were already discussing about dinner, so Kazuha hurried and joined them.

"So, where to?" Ran asked. "Typical japanese, italian, or american? The beach bar is also open."

"I say italian!" Heiji suggested. He was like always again; good news. 

"I agree. Ran?"

"Fine with me", she said.

"And you, Tôyama?", Shinichi asked her.

"Ok, pizza for me!"

Shinichi smiled at them. "Well then. We can unpack our things later, so let's go!". And he left the room, followed by the others.

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The evening passed smoothly. All four of them talked about general things; mainly the soccer league, and the various big Kendo tournaments of the last month, as well as the Karate and Aikido ones, and some laughs could be heard over the restaurant when one of them made a joke about some famous player and his last romance with some famous actress or singer. But, Kazuha didn't feel as comfortable as she should. Heiji wouldn't look at her the whole time, and when she caught him doing it, he rapidly avoided her gaze. But sadness quickly led to indifference. She wouldn't spoil her vacation because of his bad mood! She would even solve it some time; now she would enjoy being with her friends.

As for Heiji, we was pretty much as always; only one or two looks at Kazuha though when she laughed at something Shinichi, Ran or even himself said, and avoid her just when she looked back. After those two times, though, she stopped looking at him and centered her attention at the couple from Tôkyô. He certainly prefered that to seeing her angst for him... he had enough with himself. So he went on like before, happily chatting and laughing.

****

They needed the help of the waiter to remind what time it was... when he, sweatdropping, told them that it was time to close the restaurant, the four teenagers blushed and quietly left to their rooms.

In the elevator, Heiji noticed Ran and Shinichi were suspiciously near each other. His suspicions were confirmed when they got to their floor and Ran spoke as he was walking out of the elevator with Kazuha behind him.

"Um...Hattori-kun, Kazuha-chan, we'll be coming in a while, ok?". She didn't have time to say more as the doors closed and the elevator continued its way up to the floor where it was required.

"Ok, Ran...chan... oh." Kazuha said, as the couple left not giving her time to continue. Seeing Heiji leaving to his room, she hurried to him, trying to improve the mood between them. "Supposed they would want to be alone for a while, ne?"

"Yeah...". Definitely, no improvement today. They soon arrived to their rooms, which were adjoinig, and both opened the doors silently.But then...

"Good night"

Kazuha looked at Heiji, surprised that he had said something so suddenly, but at the same time so right.. Their gazes met for a brief moment, and then he entered his room. She didn't know how she was supposed to feel at that. She entered her room and headed to the bedroom, where she unpacked all her clothes and things. Still a blank look on her face, she washed her teeth, changed into her pajamas, and sat on the bed. Yeah, she decided how she would feel. Her brows went down and she tightened her lips and fists.

"Heiji, you AHOOOOOOOOOOUUUUUU!!!!!!!!!!!!"

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Well, this was completely rewritten (more that rewritten... completely new!!) You may be missing Heiji's usual self... I am too T_T ...but it has a reason, which will be explained in time ^__^ 

Well, hope you liked this chapter!! Even if you didn't, please review, k? Reviews are like food and water for a fanfic writer!! Need them to live!! ^__~ Thanks to reviewers!!!


	3. Chapter 3: Fear...

Hi!! Well, here you have chapter 3 for you to enjoy!! Ummm... don't know what to say... oh yeah: many thanks to those who review!! ^__^ you kept me alive long enough to write down this chapter ^__~ 

Standard disclaimers apply, and non-standard ones too. Don't want anyone to sue me. Nope. No money in pockets.

Read, enjoy, and review!! ^__^

**Chapter 3: Fear...**

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Heiji couldn't sleep. And the worst part of it was that he knew _why_... and whose fault it was.

'Damnit... why does she have to... be around me so much?'.He was spread on one of the beds in his and Shinichi's room, jeans and t-shirt still on. Nealry half an hour had passed since he got into the room... he'd already unpacked his things, taken a look at the room -pretty much the same as the girls' one, but with the living room at the right and the bedroom and bathroom at the left, which meant--

"-you AHOOOOOOOOOOOOUUUUUUU!!!!!!!!!"

Yeah, which meant only a wall separated his bedroom and the girls' one.

Heiji got up and headed to the living room. Hopefully, a cold glass of water would make him some good. He opened the little fridge under the TV. Water, water... there it was. A small bottle, so no need of a glass. He drank up half of its content and left it back in the fridge, then sat on an armchair.

'I guess I really am an ahô to her...'. He looked at the bedroom. No sound came from the other side of the wall, though he was fairly sure Kazuha was yelling off not very nice words about him. 'She doesn't understand-'. His thoughts stopped as he heard a sound coming from the door. 'Finally! It was about time.' The door opened and Shinichi entered the room, seemingly not surprised to find Heiji awake.

"Boy, are these walls soundproof! When Ran opened the door to her room it was not so silent...", he said, grinning.

"You bet... but the big shout was loud enough to go through the wall.", Heiji replied, not looking at him. Shinichi smiled at that. The Osaka boy then got up from his seat, and went to wash his face at the bathroom. Shinichi went after him to their room, and began unpacking. As he finished, Heiji came out, wearing the lower part of his pajamas and ready to sleep.

"What took you so long there? Wasn't Neechan letting go of your tongue or what?", he asked. Shinichi smiled, gritting his teeth.

"I think you're not one to be making these kind of jokes, _ahô_.", he replied.

Heiji sighed. "Ok, ok, I get it."

"Don't you think we haven't noticed? You were completely avoiding her all the day. What's up with you?". He began changing clothes also.

"It wasn't only today." Seeing Shinichi stop at that, he sat on the bed and went on. "I've avoided her since... the accident last week. Since she got out of the hospital."

"And... may I know why?", he said, sitting on the bed too. That was going to be interesting.

Heiji lowered his head. "I... don't know... she... fell and... I just couldn't do anything because they were following us... then the police got them, and I went to her, and held her and took her to the hospital, and there she wouldn't let go of my hand...". He stopped. He didn't want to talk about it!!!...

Shinichi noticed his doubts. "You know, it helps talking it out to someone... I know it first hand. You were the only one I could talk to when I was Conan, so I can listen now, k?". He smiled. "Come on, I don't know what happened at all except from what you told me, and that wasn't much, to begin with."

"Fine, I'll tell you..." Heiji said, looking at Shinichi and smiling resignedly. "When I wasn't being chased anymore, I hurried to Kazuha. She was on the road, and conscious, already walking to me. She had a hand in her chest and her head was bleeding, and I told her not to move, but she kept on...and only stopped when I was in front of her. Her legs wouldn't obey anymore... so I caught her and carried her to the bike. Kazuha told me her neck and back didn't hurt, so I took her to the hospital myself.". He softly laughed to himself. "I even remember her telling me not to look at the nurse that much while she was being carried off to the room and I had to sign the admission...". 

His face grew serious again.

"When I got to the room she was in, she was already clean and dressed with a yukata, and a doctor was with her. He saw me come in, and told me that she was fine except for some bruises, but had to remain there for the night in observation in case they hadn't noticed internal injuries. Then Kazuha thanked the doctor, and he patted her head and left. I went to her side, and sat on the chair that was near the bed... then I asked her about her head. She smiled, and pushed aside her bangs to show off a stitched injury. 'It's only one stitch', she said. 'In two days I'll only have a bruise.'.I asked her if she had any more bruises, and she put her left foot out of the sheets to show me a bruise on her ankle. 'And your chest?', I asked her. She smiled," Heiji smiled too, remembering that moment, "and told me she wasn't showing me that one until we got married. Of course, I didn't say anything more...". Shinichi grinned widely at that. Heiji went on, ignoring his friend the best he could. "Then, she suddenly took my hand. She asked me if I would stay near her until she fell asleep... she closed her eyes and her grip loosened a bit a few minutes later... and I leaned my head on the bed. I woke up the morning after, when she was getting dressed in the bathroom. She told me the doctor had already visited and that we could leave whenever we wanted to, so I waited until she was ready and we left. Our parents couldn't come because of all the work they had in the police station, so we left in my bike again."

"And, that's all?" Shinichi asked, seeing he wasn't talking anymore. "It was nothing more than an accident! Is that why you now act as if she didn't exist? I say that's not fair for her."

Heiji laid on the bed looking at the ceiling, and let out a long sigh.

"That night... I had a dream. About her... all the times she's been in danger... when we nearly fell off a cliff, when we were kidnapped, when she was made a human puppet by that american guy... when we were small... and... I just couldn't bear any more seeing her in pain..."

"And don't you think she's suffering even more this way? Hattori, wake up!", Shinichi nearly yelled, and Heiji turned to look at him. "You think I don't know how you feel?", he continued, "I hurt Ran way more than I thought possible to hurt someone, but at least I had a reason to do it. But you... you're just running away from her, and you're not yourself if you run away from pain. Think about it.". Shinichi laid down and went under the sheets.

"You know what?", Heiji told him after that, "I think I need some sleep to power up my coward feelings", he sighed, giving Shinichi a smile. The Tôkyô boy smiled back at him.

"By the way, I didn't get to thank you and Tôyama for your help... thank you, Hattori."

"Does that make me have to thank you for giving me advice?"

"G' night..."

"Hn", Heiji grunted, and also closed his eyes.

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"I see... but only because of an accident..."

Ran was sitting on her bed, Kazuha in front of her, listening to her friend. Well, at least she was calm now... when she had returned from her... um...stay... with Shinichi, not long after going out of the elevator they heard an unmistakeable 'AHÔ' come out of her room. And when they got to the door and opened it, a shower of yells got to them, and she had to be very fast saying goodbye to Shinichi and closing the door if she wanted the guests of the other rooms to keep sleeping. She found Kazuha on the bed, yelling and yelling some more about the 'heartless boy next door'. When she saw Ran, the volume of her voice lowered, until she managed to mutter a "Hi, Ran". They'd been talking since then, Kazuha explaining her friend how her situation came to this.

"I think he's afraid.", Ran said.

"But afraid of what?? It's not the first time I get hurt, and probably not the last!"

"That's it." Ran somehow understood Heiji. Somehow, he reminded her of how Shinichi thought about her and dangerous situations, but... there was the small difference on the level of danger. Even then, it was so cute, having Heiji worried for her childhood friend to that point! Ran couldn't help but let out a smile.

"Aaaahhh! How can he be so-so... ahô!!

Ran sweatdropped. "Well, I'm sure Shinichi must have talked with him, so the best we can do is wait until tomorrow and see if things get better, don't you think so?" Yeah, Shinichi had surely talked to Hattori-hun by then...

"Yeah... maybe you're right.", Kazuha answered. She went under the sheets and leaned her head on the soft pillow. "I'm a bit tired now... let's sleep, ok?".

"Ok... good night, Kazuha-chan", Ran said, also leaning down and making herself comfortable. She was about to switch off the light and fall asleep--

"Wait!". Kazuha suddenly got up and took again a sitting position. "Now that I remember...". A _very_ malicious smile found a way to her face. "_I_ wanted to ask _you_ something..." Heh, no way she was going to sleep without having _her_ talk with Ran...

"Uhh... and that would be...?". Ran was scared now... Kazuha was one to be taken seriously when she asked certain things...sweatdrops ran down her face.

"Just how far have you gone with Kudô-kun???"

'Oh, no...' Ran blushed to no end. That one would be a long night...

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Don't know what to say here... already said it all up there... well... enjoyed the chapter?... ummm... review?? Yeah, that's it. Review!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! ^__^

Aichan


	4. Chapter 4: Fun!!!

Well people, here is chapter 4!! ^__^ Don't have much to say, only that I hope you enjoy it...

Standard disclaimers apply.

**Chapter 4: Fun!!!**

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The next morning, Kazuha woke up earlier than usual. The sun light had managed somehow to pass through the curtains and end up right on her face, and she found herself dizzily crashing her right arm with her face in an attempt to stop the bothering rays of light.She rubbed her eyes, sat up, and took a look at the room. 'Oh yeah... vacation in Okinawa... with Ran-chan and Kudô-kun...'. She turned her head to the left and saw Ran, who was still sleeping. 'Ran-chan and Kudô-kun... Ran-chan and Kudô-kun...' then last night's conversation stomped in. 'oh'. Kazuha blushed like a tomato: last night's conversation!!

She couldn't believe it as Ran told her the events happened on the week after the Black Organisation's downfall.

"After that, Shinichi recovered his adult form; though Ai decided to remain small herself.", she remembered Ran telling her. "She told me she wanted to begin a normal life, and that it was best for all of us too", Ran said, smiling somewhat sadly. "So, Conan returned to America with his parents after saying goodbye to his friends; that little girl, Ayumi-chan, even cried a little and Ai had to console her... anyway, Ai and Prof. Agasa said that the antidote for Shinichi would be ready soon and that he should sleep as much as possible to avoid exhaustion while he grew back." Ran stopped for a few seconds, and then went on.

"But, since I confirmed Conan-kun's 'secret', I haven't talked to him, not even a single word. I couldn't... I don't know if I was angry, or sad, or.. I just couldn't. While he was sleeping I met Ai, who was coming out of the lab. She talked to me, about herself, and about Shinichi. She told me a lot about him. Also about the organisation... I began to understand Shinichi's reasons for hiding... I thought about that for a long time, until Shinichi woke up, almost, ready to take the pill that woud return him to his own self. I went into his bedroom, where he was, prepared for the process, and just held his hand, and he smiled at me. An hour later (which I don't want to ever relive again... so many pain in his face, and his cries...), he was adult again, and after Prof. Agasa checked on him, he fell asleep again. I also went to sleep a bit to the room next to his, after phoning dad to make sure it was all right with him and mom at her house. You know that damn organisation set our house on fire, right? I had to slep at Shinichi's house from then on... and dad went to mom's house! And he didn't seem angry at all... so it might even turn out fine", she smiled. 

"An hour later or so I found Shinichi by my side, telling me to hurry because we would go shopping! ...After I recovered from the initial shock, it was one of the best days I've had in all my life. He wouldn't let go of my hand, not that I would complain, and that evening we shared our firt real kiss..." Ran blushed as she continued her story. "From then on, we didn't stop... and that night... well... that." Ran looked at Kazuha's expecting face and blushed "No way I'm going to tell you the details!! Adults only!!"

Ran didn't look as if she would continue talking about that, at least on her own will, so Kazuha drifted the talk to other matters, and after an hour or two of happy chat they felt it was time to go to sleep.

'Mmmm... it's soooooooo romantic...' Kazuha's mind returned to the real world when she heard a yawn. Ran had got up and was heading to the bathroom. The two were up early it seemed.

After both girls took a shower and got dressed, they decided it was time to head downstairs for breakfast, so they left their room and went to the boys' one. Kazuha tapped the door and waited for someone to open it. And waited. And waited...

Well, three minutes of waiting for someone to open the door sure can make a girl edgy.

"Kazuha-chan?", Ran asked.

"Yeah?"

"Is Hattori-kun by any chance a heavy sleeper?"

"Now that you say it... whenever we don't have work to do, he sleeps as much as he can...", Kazuha said.

"I suppose emergency mesures are necessary, then", Ran smiled, as she took a key card from her skirt's pocket. Kazuha stared at her, surprise in her face.

"You have a card for their room?".

Ran grinned at her friend, and pushed the card into the lock. "Shinichi suggested I had one too in case something like this happened."

"I see..."

The two girls entered the boys' room, and their suspects were confirmed. Shinichi and Heiji were both spread on their beds, sheets all over the floor. "What a mess... you can't leave them alone, ne?" Ran muttered, heading to Shinichi's bed. "Ok, you wake your boy and I wake mine."

"He's not my-!" Kazuha interrupted, but Ran wasn't listening, or so she thought. 

The Tôkyô girl was already by Shinichi's side, at the bed closer to the window, and, whispering, told Kazuha, "Wait and see, he'll be up in three seconds exactly!"

At first, Kazuha didn't know how could Ran possibly do that, but... wait... just what was she doing? Ran was kissing him!! Fully in his mouth!! Kazuha was blushing to no end, her eyes like plates. And she held her hand up with three fingers, to count down the three seconds!? Exactly when the last finger went down, she saw Shinichi's eyes open to meet Ran's. "See? Told you!!" Ran said, up again, light blush on her cheeks but otherwise happily smiling.

"Told who what?" Shinichi asked, getting up and still looking at Ran, who urged him to turn over. Then he faced Kazuha, and smiled."Oh, good morning, Tôyama"

Kazuha closed her eyes and sighed. " ... Good morning."

"Now... how do we get Osaka boy up?" Ran said, grinning again. Obviouly, Kazuha would have to kill her later for all that, or at least so told her eyes.

Well, she _had_ to do something, so... "Heiji...", she shaked the sleeping boy. No answer. She shaked him again. "Heijiiiiii...". Still nothing. Ok, her patience limit was near... "Heiji,_ wake up..._" He stiffened a bit in his sleep, and turned left so that he faced her. Well, 'faced' wasn't probably the exact expression... his eyes were firmly closed. Kazuha finally kneeled so her head was at the same height as his, and slowly closed the distance between them...

"AHÔ!! WAKE UP!!"

Ran and Shinichi didn't expect that and nearly fell to the floor in surprise. Heiji scratched his head and slowly opened his eyes. He saw a bare neck... a bare shoulder at the right... a bareshoulder at the left... and down... a tube top. Oh well. Up... an angry face... oh, yeah. Kazuha.

"Mornin'...", he told her. Hopefully, she wouldn't yell at him like yesterday... He saw her face soften, and she repeated what he said. So, she wasn't angry anymore... good... he smiled at her, and was glad to have an understanding smile in return.

"Come on, Hattori! It's time to get up!" Huh? Where had this one come from? Heiji turned, and let out a shriek when he saw this wo Tôkyô friends staring at him with what he could only describe as an _evil_ smile and half-closed eyes. Heiji got up to stand by Kazuha, and went to the bathroom with a set of clothes. Two minutes later (record time!!), he came out all clean and dressed in his blue jeans and dark green t-shirt, which he noticed later was somewhat similar to Kazuha's top... coincidence. Yeah.

"How did you two get in the room?", he asked the girls, while Shinichi also took his clothes and headed for the bathroom.

"I also have a key", Ran answered smiling. "In case you didn't get up in time for breakfast."

Heiji scowled. "Hey, I don't know about Kudô but I do appreciate my privacy, you know. Oh! I know. I'll get a card to your room too", he said, smiling evilly. Kazuha blushed brightly, but Ran didn't seem so impressed about the idea.

"Shinichi has one, so you can ask him. It's up to him to let you have it though..." the girl smiled. Right then Shinichi came out (he's fast too!! ;P). "Shall we go?"

"Let's go!", Kazuha said. With that, they left the room and headed downstairs.

************

"It seems Heiji is much better today, don't you think so?", Ran asked her friend, back in their rooms. They were changing into their bikinis, and preparing towels and suncreams for a relaxing day in the beach.

"Yeah... I wonder what did Kudô-kun tell him... this morning he even asked me to bring him more toasts, and last night he acted as if I didn't exist!", Kazuha said as she took a towel out of the guardrobe.

"You can ask him directly then, Hattori-kun I mean"

Kazuha blushed for the hundreth time that morning. "Ask Heiji? B-but... I don't think he'll tell me..."

"But you do need to talk, don't you? And the sooner it's done, the better for you two", Ran said. "You don't want him to leave you again, right...? It's important that you two talk, Kazuha-chan..."

"I-I suppose you're right..." Kazuha looked down, but smiled. Then she gazed up again, and saw Ran had already changed. Time to change subject! "Wow, Ran-chan, that is a wonderful bikini!". She wore a dark red with white stains bikini, the upper top-like part tied at her neck.

"You like it? I bought it this week", Ran said happily. "Yours is pretty too, Kazuha-chan."

"You think so?". Kazuha's one was a blue strapless bikini, with a white band at the waist. Well, she was also quite fond of it, so she appreciated Ran's compliment.

"Yes, I really like it. Well, are you ready? We decided we'd meet at the beach, so we can go and wait in the water, ne?"

******

Hey, wanna bet what the girls will wear? I say blue bikini for Kazuha and black and white for Ran!

They boys were still in their room as Kazuha and Ran went into the elevator.

"No bet this time... besides, I already know Ran's one, and it's not black as you say. It's red and white...", Shinichi said, busy looking for his flip-flops (AN: just found that word in the dictionary... isn't it a funny one? ^^).

"Hey, I have a question for you, Kudô..."

"And it is...?". Yeah, there were the flip-flops. Now, towel and to the beach...

"How far did you go with Neechan?". At that, Shinichi looked at Heiji with half closed eyes, and went to the door. "Hey, I want to know! Kudô! Don't leave!!"

"Fine, fine. Just... really far, ok?"

"Really far?"

"NC-17..."

"Yeah!!! Knew it!!! But don't you want to be in the same room as her, Ku--"

"And how far have _you_ gone with Tôyama, Hattori?", Shinichi interrupted. This time it was the Osaka boy who went to the exit door with his eyes half closed...

*******************

Just as she was getting out of the water, Kazuha spotted the two teenagers coming to the seashore from the hotel. "Ran-chan! There they are!", she told her friend, who was sitting and drying her hair with a towel. Ran turned to look at them too, as they approached the girls.

"You sure took your time up there!" She told them. Shinichi had already sat to her left, and took the sunspray bottle as Ran smiled and moved her hair aside so he could put some protection on her back.

"Sorry, couldn't find the flip-flops... (AN: I know, I know!! But I like that word!)", he told her while spraying some suncream and massaging her back, making Ran blush a little.

Kazuha noticed how close the contact between the Tôkyô couple got, and blushed a little too. Heiji was at Shinichi's left, telling him something about having guessed the colour or similar, and Kazuha decided to sit next to him. But not long after she sat, Heiji looked at her and then at the sea, silently telling her to go there with him. Looking over him, she saw Shinichi and Ran laying down looking at the sky, Shinichi hugging her girlfriend from behind and she with her head on his chest, in a bubble of their own. Yeah, better have a swim. Kazuha got up and Heiji followed her.

The day was a bit cloudy and the sun hadn't warmed up the water, so when Heiji got to the shore his feet met cold. Kazuha was already wet, so she didn't notice it as much as the first time she got into the water. "Come on, it's not _that_ cold!!", she told him when she saw he was still at knees' level.

"You say that because you were in the water before!", Heiji replied.

Kazuha approached him and laughed. "It was cold when I first got in, and I didn't doubt as much as you're now. Come oooon!!". She got behind him and pushed, making him go a bit further from the shore.

The water now touched Kazuha's waist, Heiji being taller only was soaked to his thighs.'Ok,' Kazuha thought, 'we're going nowhere like this. Let's have some fun!'

Heiji noticed Kazuha got closer and put her left leg around his while her hands took a steady grip of his shoulders. Suddenly, the water was very near. "Wha-"

*SPLASH*

Kazuha had pushed him into the water face first as soon as he lost balance because of her strategically situated leg. Now they were both under the water. Heiji shrieked and, feeling cold, swimmed to warm himself up, but Kazuha, enjoying her little joke, didn't loosen her grip on him, and was dragged with him while he moved further from the shore. When they got to the surface to breath some fresh air, she found that her arms were around Heiji's neck and taht she was more by his side than on his back because of the grip she had on his leg. Well, all in all it felt like quite a compromising situation.

"C-cold...", Heiji said, shivering. "Why did you do THAT!?". He turned left to look at her, but found her face closer than he expected and inevitably blushed. "Uh..."

Kazuha blushed too, but luckily she found something else to pay attention to. What was that thing touching her thigh? Something on his pocket...no, not that, hentai!! It was another thing... she slowly let go of him. They were quite far, so she had to swim to keep har head up. Before, Heiji was the one swimming for the two, she noticed. Oh yeah, speaking of Heiji... what had he just asked? Ah, that. "Well... you'd be still doubting wether to wet your hair or not if I hadn't pushed you in! Besides, your face makes it worth the effort..." She felt the sudden urge to laugh, but seeing him turn away and leave she decided against that. "W-wait!!"

"What is it now...", he sighed, turning back to face her.

"Um... what is it you have in your pocket? If it's your cell phone, it will be soaked...  


"Huh? In my pocket? Oh, that..." Saying nothing more, he put his hand in said pocket and took out something familiar..."Wasn't it you who told me not to ever leave it behind? So here it is."

"The omamori..."

Kazuha slowly reached Heiji's situation and stopped a meter away from him. Her face was serious now, and maybe... even sad? As he got a bit closer, Heiji noticed her wet bangs were aside and no longer hiding the bruise on her forehead. The one on her chest was not visible, though... he blushed a little, remembering the 'not until married' thing. But then he looked back at her face, just as she was opening her mouth to say something they both already knew... but resisted to accept for the sake of some fun that day.

"Heiji, you know... we need to talk, don't you? About-"

"I know, I know...", he interrupted. "Just... later, ok? Now..." By then he was a little too close, in Kazuha's oppinion. He kept approaching until his nose was only centimetres away from hers and raised a hand to cup her blushing cheek. 'Is he-- oh no--- he is!--'

"Heiji...". Her eyes were already half closed and her was was going to meet his when Kazuha felt a little too much presure on her cheek. At the same time, she felt a foot pushing her leg aside... and then-

"Hei-glhewbs!--" Heiji had forced her into the water!! He had both his hands busy keeping her head in the salty water and was laughing like there was no tomorrow, watching her struggle with arms and legs. She even punched him a few times in the ribs, but to no avail. Only when she stopped did Heiji let her go up and breath, but by the time she had recovered he was quite far - never underestimate an angry Kazuha! And angry she was, that was for sure. She was swimming to him at a notable speed, and he decided it was time to go out of the water and sunbath. Yeah, that was a good idea. Still laughing, he swimmed to the shore, Kazuha following him and dangerously near.

"Heijiiiiii!! Don't run awaaaaaayyyyy!!!!!!! You nearly drowned me!! Ahô!! Heyyy!!---"

********

At the beach, Ran and Shinichi were enjoying the show.

"Ne, Shinichi, should we go help Hattori-kun?". Ran looked down at Shinichi, who sat between her legs leaning his head on her stomach. She was hugging him from behind, and leaned her chin on his head as she said that.

"Nah... leave them with their bussiness. Besides, you make a good chair... I don't wanna get up...", Shinichi answered, caressing the arms around him.

Ran suddenly blinked an eye. "Ow".

"What happened?"

"Nothing... just a drop of water" Right then, Shinichi also felt a drop fall on his knee. "See? It's beginning to rain..."

"Yeah. We better pack our things up in case it gets worse... I'll take care of Hattori's things, you take Tôyama's, ok?"

"Yessir!!", Ran smiled, and began packing too.

*********

"Huh? Rain?"

"What do you mean, rain? It's you who's splashing water on my face!!"

"No, Kazuha, it's raining."

Kazuha had just got hold of one of Heiji's foot (the other was moving wildly, making Kazuha unable to see anything than water), but felt obliged to let go of it when she heard that.

"Neechan is packing your things up, so don't worry. Wow, it really is cloudy!", Heiji exclaimed, looking up at the sky.

"Yes..."

Heiji caught her by the wrist. "Come on, they're already waving at us to go there. It's raining heavier now."

"Ok, ok... but remember that I'm not finished yet!"

"Come on, Kazuha, you pushed me into the water before, so we're even! Now let's go."

Kazuha sighed. "I suppose you're right...". She followed Heiji to the beach, where their friends were waiting.

*******************

"Arigatô, Ran-chan! If you hadn't picked up my towel it would be soaked by now!", Kazuha told her friend. 

They were now on their way to the elevator, after having stopped for a minute at the bar to pick up some food -rice balls, sandwiches... a good lunch, all in all-. Heiji had brought with him a pack of cards, so they decided to spend the afternoon playing cards and having fun.Boys and girls split up to change clothes, and ten minutes later they met in the girls' room, where the food was already prepared on the table, and began playing.

Two hours later, Heiji was sending a death glare at his Tôkyô friends, Joker in his hand.

"Oi, Kudô! It's not fair play if you help your girlfriend win!" Obviously, Ran had won more than half of the games. Unluckily for Heiji, the other victories were for Kazuha, and that left the two teenagers as big loosers.

"Hey, it's not my fault if Ran is the queen of games. Besides, I could say the same about you and Tôyama. She's won all the games Ran hasn't! Unless..." Shinichi looked at Kazuha and Ran, who where next to each other happily smiling. "You've been playing together against us!! Ran!"

Ran put on her most innocent face and looked at Shinichi. "We?". Kazuha, unable to resist anymore, was spread on the sofa she and her friend shared and laughing to no end.

"Ha ha... and you... call yourselves detectives? We've been plotting the game for the last 40 minutes!!"

Shinichi half closed his eyes. But they hadn't been cheating... they'd just joined their good luck. And the first hour they won by themselves. "Hattori, we can't win against them... even if they play alone."

Heiji humphed. "I knew Kazuha was damn good, but Ran too? That's not fair!"

"Anyway", Ran said, "I'm getting tired of playing the same game over and over again. Why don't we go to the beach? It's stopped raining... for now at least".

"You're right..." Heiji said looking outside. The rain had stopped, and it seemed it would take its time to begin again.

"Ok. See you in ten minutes in our room?" Said Shinichi, already by the door. 

Heiji followed him, and the two girls were left alone in their room. They also changed into their still wet bikinis (AN: cooold!! _) and picked up the spread cards and the rests of food before going to the boys' room. When they got there Shinichi and Heiji were ready to go down as well, so no time was waisted and soon all four teenagers were having fun in the water.

At half past six more or less though, it began raining again, and they had to go to their rooms again. As it was quite late, they went to the restaurant for dinner (that night was japanes food's turn!). 

"Oi, Kudô", Heiji asked when they were talking about nothing in particular.

"What is it?

"The day before you two came to Osaka you phoned me and said you had something important to announce. And I think you haven't told me what it is yet ."

"That's right!", Kazuha joined the conversation. "What is it you had to tell us?". Beside her, Ran had a curious expression.

"Is it about...?", she asked.

"Yeah, that. We forgot to tell them yesterday it seems...". The he faced the Osaka couple. "Well, it's about Ran and I... you see, we..." Damn, he couldn't find the words...

Ran went on in his place. "What he's trying to say, is that... we're getting married."

At that, the Osaka pair looked at Shinichi, who had a very funny smile (Kazuha couldn't tell if it was sheepish or more like shy), and then looked at each other. Then looked back and the now official couple.

"..."

"..."

Their faces slowly began to change into a dreamy expression. Kazuha nearly had stars in her eyes, or so Shinichi thought. Heiji was much like the same.

"CONGRATULATIONS!!!!!!!" They both screamed finally. The whole restaurant knew by then, and Shinichi and Ran thought seriously of hiding under the table. But of course, Heiji and Kazuha wouldn't stop just then.

"Where?"

"When?"

"Are we invited?"

"Of course we are, Ran-chan's our friend!!"

"Don't think so high of yourself!!"

"I don't!!"

"You do!!"

"No way!!!"

Ran couldn't stand it anymore. "Oh, that's enough!!! Stop you two!!!" 

That effectively stopped them Silently, Kazuha thought her friend was beginning to sound like a married woman...

Some more minutes of silence.

And some more...

Kazuha finally decided to speak. "But, Kudô-kun, aren't you supposed to give her a ring?"

It was Shinichi's time to blush now. "Um, well, you see... it was decided in kind of a rush, so..."

"Oh, I get it. An NC-17 moment, wasn't it?", Heiji guessed. The couple turned bright red, so he supposed he was right. "Well, at least you can tell us when is the wedding, ne?", he grinned.

The conversation went on for a long time, discussing what Heiji and Kazuha would buy the couple as a wedding present among other things, but all for fun, because, as Shinichi and Ran repeated over and over, they weren't getting married at least until they graduated at University. And first was the problem of all the school he missed while he was Conan... there weren't many months left of high school. "No problem with that," Shinichi said, "I can pass the finals quite easily, and I already have invitations from many Universities without need of taking any exams, so no need to worry about that". Talk about advantages of being famous at eighteen.

But as the time passed, Heiji noticed the girls were getting kinda uncomfortable.

"Neechan, Kazuha, what's up? Isn't the food good?"

Kazuha shyly looked up at him. "No... you'll probably think that we're insane or worse, but..."

Shinichi was curious too. "But what?"

"It's that we've been in the same place for a whole day, and... how can I say it... it's... strange that... that there hasn't been any murder yet!! Usually by now a corpse would come from the sea, or fall off a balcony, or someone would die of food poisoning!! It's not normal that there's so much peace around you two!!", Ran exclaimed nervously.

Sweatdrops were on the two detectives' faces.

"Hm... we should go to our room, shouldn't we?", Kazuha muttered. "Before something happens, I mean... besides, you're out of service this week, so..."

"Ok, ok". The two boys got up, and the girls followed them. Yeah, better go to sleep... "It's quite late, now that you mention it... nearly nine, and I want to take a warm bath before going to sleep...", Heiji said.

No more words needed, the group headed towards the elevator and to their rooms.

************

"So, Kazuha-chan, did you talk with Hattori-kun?", Ran asked. 

Kazuha was coming out of the bathroom, where she had just taken a quick but relaxing bath, and sat on the bed. "Not yet...", she answered. "Suppose we didn't have much time today to talk about it."

"But you seemed to be much better around each other... specially this morning at the beach...", Ran grinned. Time to tease her friend a little!

"T-that was... we were joking around, nothing more. Well, he was himself again today, that's true, but I didn't do anything at all. At the beach we only decided that we had to talk, but that was all. We haven't talked about the accident yet... maybe tomorrow."

As she was saying all that while changing into her pajamas, Ran noticed the bruise on her chest. It was located between her breasts, closer to her left side. It wasn't that she hadn't seen it before, but she felt that now was time to talk about it. "Ne, Kazuha-chan, I've been wondering... how exactly did you get that bruise? You had to fall quite hard to get it..."

"Not that hard...", Kazuha said, touching the area around it. Then she put on her sleeveless pajama top, covering the bruise. "In fact, it happened while Heiji was turning left at a close curve. He was driving slowly, but I lost my grip on him and fell. I have that bruise because I fell on the road's end and I hit the guardrail before touching the ground, that's why all the bruises are at the left side of my body."

"I see..."

"Anyway, the only one that still hurts a little is the one on my forehead because those men didn't give us enought time to get our helmets, so the one on my chest is no big deal..."

But Ran wanted to return to the first subject, so she ignored her rambling and made her question. "So, when are you going to talk to him?"

"And my ankle is fine too, so I don't know why he worries so much, and--- oh that. Well... maybe tomorrow... or when we return home... I don't know."

"Why not tonight?

"W-what?"

"You do need to talk, don't you? And the sooner the better, that's for sure. Besides, it's not a bad idea that--" Kazuha was more and more scared as Ran spoke. Wherever she was going to with her advices, it wasn't good!!

She nearly fainted when she heard what Ran said next.

"Tonight you're sleeping with Heiji, and it's final!!"

"Ran-chan..." Kazuha tried to smile, sweatdropping. No. Definitely not that...

"No 'Ran-chan'. I'm going to see Shinichi and tell him that he'll be changing rooms with you"

"But..."

Even if she said anything, Ran wouldn't have heard her, for she was already heading to the boys' room. No...

'How can she do that to me!!??' was Kazuha's first thought.She tried to go after her, but, strangely, her body was paralyzed with fear (well, she though it was fear), and wouldn't obey. 'But it maybe would be the best', she continued. Yeah, try to convince yourself, Kazuha. 'Ran probably wants to be with Kudô-kun, now that he finally came back, and... well, I do have to talk with Heiji someday. But sleeping in the same room!? No way!! Is Ran crazy?? But now that I think of it, it wouldn't be the first time... but we were kids back then!! It's not the same!!' And she went on and on with her thoughts, trying to decide on wether to kill Ran or not, and how was she supposed to sleep with a boy... no wait, a man!! And she was a woman, for God's sake!! Only couples sleep in the same room!! At that, she blushed madly. Then she heard the door open and Ran's voice.

"Kazuha-chan, I'm here!"

She came into the room with a smiling Shinichi holding her hand, his things on his other hand. He was also dressed with the hotel's yukata, and Kazuha supposed he had already taken his bath.

"Ran-chan, I _can't_ do that!! Heiji's not... we're not--!!"

"Hattori-kun was in the bathroom and I didn't want to disturb him, so you'll give him a surprise.", Ran 'answered' as she went to put Shinichi's things in the bathroom. She didn't notice him following her, and was surprised when he hugged her from behind and tenderly kissed her shoulder. 

"Talking about baths, do you feel like taking one now?" He whispered to her ear.

Kazuha was startled to see such an intimate scene, Shinichi holding Ran from behind, kissing her and asking her something she couldn't hear, but could tell what it could be from Ran's blush. Feeling out of place, she quickly packed her things said goodnight to the still hugging couple.

"Sleep well, you sweetbirds!!" She told them. 

Another blush came to her face when Shinichi told her exactly the same, a wide grin on his face. At that moment she hated them.

***************

  
When she entered what would be her new room, she could see steam coming out from the bathroom. Apparently, both men took their time in the bath. She began to put her clothes in place while she waited for Heiji to come out of the bathroom to tell him the 'news'. Shen she finished, she sat on the bed and turned on the tv. The volume was too high. Now, where was the remote control for it?

Ten minutes later, the same channel still on (she didn't feel like moving), Kazuha was beggining to feel bored. 'Is he never coming out?', she thought. Apparently not. Well then, she was also tired. Deciding not to wait anymore, she began to unfold the sheets, and was already with her legs in the bed when the tv suddenly turned off. She looked at her left to find Heiji at the bathroom door with the TV remote control in his hand, and, she noticed blushing, only a towel on his waist. He apparently hadn't seen her yet, for he began to talk, eyes on the black screen.

"Oi, Kudô, with this on I can't relax!". And he began walking to the bed, still not looking at her. When he arrived there, not having received an answer from 'Kudô', Heiji looked up and froze right where he was. Finally, the other person in his room said something.

"Yo."

*******************************************************

I know, I know. It's LONG, and the second part seemed a bit rushed... I just didn't know where to stop it!! And while I wrote it down into the computer, I couldn't help but to add more scenes... T_T

Well, thanks to all who reviewed , specially to bluedetective15 (thanks for reviewing every chapter!!), and to those who didn't... what are you waiting for?? ^__~ Anyway, thanks for reading!! From now on, things will get serious!! The next one will be the last chapter!!

Aichan


	5. Chapter 5: A much needed talk.

Well dear readers ^__^ here is the last chapter!! Hope you enjoy and then review ^__~

Standard disclaimers apply, don't want to be sued T_T

  
**Chapter 5: A much needed talk.**

**********************************  


Silence.

'I'm sooo going to kill Kudô", was Heiji's first thought. When Ran came into the room, he thought she would only say something to Shinichi and then leave. 

Well, she _did_ leave. But with his boyfriend. And of course, they didn't tell Heiji anything, because it's not nice to interrupt someone's bath... And for some dark reason, which he didn't feel like guessing right then, the Tôkyô couple had managed to convince Kazuha to pack her things and change rooms. Speaking of her... She was on the bed closer to the window, sheets covering her legs. Already in her sleeveless pajamas, her hair was down, and was likely going to sleep. He deduced she'd got tired of watching TV and decided to go to sleep just as he got out of the bathroom. She had apparently been observing him since the moment he turned the TV off, much before he noticed her, for she didn't seem to be overly surprised now.

Kazuha had greeted him with a smile, and that smile was still on. Only that... she was blushing too? He then looked at himself to find a good reason for her red cheeks, and, well, a reason was found. Being covered only by a hotel towel was not the best way to come out to a room with a girl in it. I'm gonna put my pajamas on, ok?. With that, he hurried to the bathroom.

At the bedroom, Kazuha couldn't stand calm anymore. Perfect. I can imagine what he'll say when he comes. How come you're here? Whatever. Good night. Then he'll lay on the sofa, fall asleep, and end of the story... No way!! Something needs to be done tonight!' At that she blushed, eyes wide open. Something? Just what are you thinking about, Kazuha?' 

Well, we all know what she was thinking. After all, you don't get to sleep with Heiji every day, you know. And, to make it worse, he came out of the room with a mere towel!! What was _he_ thinking?? Oh well, he probably asumed it was Kudô-kun the one in the room, not me. But that'

She stopped her thinking when she heard the soft thud of the bathroom door closing. Ok, here he comes'.

Heiji took a look at Kazuha's face and saw a hint of red coming from her cheeks as she watched him come out of the bathroom and into the bedroom. What, hasn't she ever seen me shirtless or what? It's way too hot to sleep full dressed, even with the air conditioned!! If it wasn't for her, I'd be sleeping in boxers, but no, I'll have to wear   
pants!' he thought, finally getting to the bed.

Kazuha watched him as he switched off the bathroom's light and came to the bedroom. And blushed. Heiji only wore the pajamas' trousers, which made her remember his dislike of hot weather, and that left quite a good sight of his body. He was drying his hair with a small towel and, when he was finished, passed his hand through his hair to comb it a little, and left the towel on the bedroom's chair near the desk. Then he took a look at the spare bed, and at the living room.Well, the bed was much more comfortable, but... 

How come you're here?, he suddenly asked. Not even he was sure how did that come out so suddenly, but it felt right to ask it.

Ok', Kazuha thought. He asked. Now comes the part, then he says goodnight and falls asleep'.

Huh? There's not supposed to be silence now! Come on, continue!!' She kept on looking at him, and stayed like that for a few more seconds, not realising her absent state of mind until he talked again.

Are you going to answer me or may I go to sleep?

Oh, answer... well. if you feel hot, you should turn the air conditioned on, you know.

It's already on he told her, absently looking at the window. Also, I prefer sleeping like this

Still not an answer? he asked again.

Oh, why couldn't she come out of Dreamworld, or wherever she was? She was sure she looked like an idiot now. O-oh, that. Well I don't really know, we were talking and Ran-chan suddenly said we'd be changing rooms, Kudô-kun and I, I mean. 

Hm, those two might want to have some fun,but they wouldn't do that to us unless it was for something important.

But I understand it if they want some time for themselves... You know, after all they had to go through, I think they really deserve it..." She stopped when she saw Heiji had turned his face to his right, and was now facing her. Not her eyes though, but somewhere higher Is something wrong with my hair?

At that, he suddenly turned to face the wall again, as if feeling bad for looking at her. your hair is ok like always. It's only that I don't get to see it loose that much often... Somehow, he didn't sound convincing with that. At least to Kazuha.

She finally realised he had been looking at her forehead, more precisely at the old bruise she still had there. So that is why Ran-chan..., she said in a clear and relieved voice. Now she understood.

Heiji showed some interested at that. , he asked.

With her right arm around her now uncovered legs, she rested her cheek on her knees. Smiling, Kazuha looked at him, and with her left hand she patted the space next to her on her bed.

Come here.

The what?' he asked now was nowhere near the last one. Now it was time for his dark face to turn beet red, and nothing like the calm and confident Heiji he always was.

I said come here, she repeated, although she knew he had heard her perfectly. Heiji finally decided to move and slowly got to the bed, where she was urging him to come. Well, more or less. Kazuha supposed him being a meter away from her was all she would get. And it didn't seem he would be coming nearer, as he crossed his legs and let out a loud sigh. So she decided to move herself.

Heiji said as she moved next to him, closing the gap he had willingly left. Now she was at his right, his right knee under her legs and her back covering his right arm and shoulder, their bodies touching. Both were silently blushing, until Kazuha broke the silence.

Better now. She wondered if she had rushed a bit doing that... anyways, she was very comfortable, so she decided she wasn't so wrong with her decisions. Just being so near him... 'Heiji must think I'm crazy, leaning onto him like this', she thought. Maybe she was. But even then... she didn't want to break the moment, and she wouldn't unless he seemed to dislike it. The arm she was leaning her back on didn't make a single move, and the movements of his chest as he breathed were calm. His face was now looking down, and no words came out of his mouth. "Is it right with you to talk now?", she asked. She didn't need to tell him what were they supposed to talk about, both knew perfectly. 

"I guess..."

But he didn't say any more.

Many minutes passed, silence building over them while none of them dared to break it. Finally, Kazuha made a move. Heiji couldn't help but look at her as she leaned her head back and her forehead touched his neck. "It's comfotable...", she said, closing her eyes. Now Heiji didn't know what to say. But he noticed something on her forehead... the bump she still had, now covered by his neck... He raised his left hand and pushed aside the girl's forehead, silently urging her to show the bruise. He wouldn't have done something like that before, but now... a special situation had grown in that room. He touched the bruise carefully while Kazuha looked at him, feeling the skin that covered it.

"Does it hurt?"

She didn't answer; instead, she pushed her forehead to his hand so that he had all his hand on her and smiled while she closed his eyes. "It doesn't hurt". The she reopened her eyes. "You feel bad about it?"

"Of course I do! I let you fall off the bike", he said, letting go of her forehead and putting his hand on his knee. It was my fault.

Now that was something silly. Her temper raised hearing that. It was me who didn't hold you strongly enough on the bike. And it isn't like I haven't fallen other times. When we fell off the cliff it was much worse, and you weren't so... ahô after that! But last week... just what did you think then? That I would die if you told me something?"

Uh-oh. She was getting angry. Well, the truth was he felt more comforable having a normal discussion with her than talking seriously about his feelings and fears, so he did the only thing that he found reasonable... get angry too and talk nonsense. But he wasn't responsible of the consequences of his act. "Of course not!! Even I know that you couldn't die of something like that!! But at the room you just had to act as if you were actually dying, of course! And I had to keep watch on you and couldn't even sleep peacefully!!" Wait... he didn't mean it... Kazuha didn't take that well.

"Oh, so now you _weren't_ worried!! How silly of me to think you would be, ne!? Of course, Hattori Heiji is too much a man to worry about a friend!! Not to mention a girl he knows since he was a child!!

The volume of Heiji's voice dropped suddenly. He was now speaking coldly, and visibly hurt. "You don't know anything... anything at all. So shut up if you don't know what you're talking about." He moved away from her, making it obvious that he was leaving. "I'll sleep on the sofa. Good night."

Kazuha watched him in silence as he left her side. Time seemed to pass very slowly as she thought about his most recent words and his face as he said them, and, suddenly, all together was too much to bear. Tears began to form in her eyes and fell on her knees as Heiji hadn't even got to the side of the bed to stand up. And, as suddenly as her thoughts, she moved. Kazuha nearly jumped onto him and hugged his waist tightly. "Wait..." Her tears were now falling on his stomach as the strenght of the impact made Heiji fall backwards and lay his back on the bed, Kazuha on top of him and not letting go. "Wait... don't leave... don't leave..." She was crying helplessly now. Heiji just watched the roof, his face showing no expression.

He just was... sorry. Slowly, he moved his hands to Kazuha's waist, which was now exposed, caressing her soft hair. "Shhhh... I'm not leaving. Calm down, please... don't cry."

"I'm-I'm sorry..."

"It's ok... I shouldn't have yelled like that. Forgive me..."

"Hai..."

She slowly stopped crying. But it felt so good hugging him and being hugged back...

He felt the same in that moment. And pushing away all the feelings that wouldn't let him, he hugged her tighter and moved so that her face went up all the way to his shoulder. His hands moved up her back, forgetting that they were under her pajamas. When Heiji noticed that, a blush tinted his cheeks, but didn't let go of her yet. Kazuha also blushed when she felt the touch of his hands on her back, but remainded quiet too. Then Heiji began to speak.

"I was afraid... afraid of me... of you... and of my feelings. That's why I tried to ignore those past days... I had a dream the night we spent at the hospital, you know?"

Kazuha was surprised to hear that kind of confession from him. He was... "A dream?"

"I dreamed of you... ", he went on. "Of you in danger, of you near death, of you falling off that damn cliff... I was afraid. That you would leave me...". He felt something fall on his neck, something wet... "Are you crying again?"

"Ahô...". 

She was.

"I won't ignore you again, I promise. It hurts too much... both you and me, doesn't it?"

"..." She didn't answer, lost in her own tears, and in his question.

"You know what Kudô told me one day?"

"No..."

"He told me that as much as he hated being imprisoned in a kid's body, he had to thank the black organisation for it. That because of it, he realised how deep his feelings were for the girl he loved, that he _really_ loved her when he thought he only 'liked' her. So now... I can understand why in only a week they've done so much; they just had to think of all the time they couldn't be together." Kazuha loosened her grip on him and held up her face to look at him. Heiji, seeing her teary face, took his hand out of her pajamas and moved the tears away with it. Slowly, he put some of her loose hair behind her ear, and moved the hand to her nape. Motioning her head to rest against his neck once more, he moved his mouth to her ear.

"I love you".

Kazuha's eyes fluttered open when she heard him whisper those three words. She again held up her face and looked at him. His face was just... she'd never seen it like that before. He was serious, but at the same time so happy, and so... so full of love, but being the same Heiji she knew... and loved, too. She could do nothing but give him a wide smile, and then hug him again. "I love you too... a lot..." 

They stayed like that, simply hugging each other, for a long time. But suddenly, Heiji rolled over himself and leaned on his side, and looked at Kazuha, now on her side too.

"So, are you going to kiss me or not? We haven't got all the night!!"

Kazuha freezed when she heard that. "Heiji, you-"

Of course, he didn't let her continue. Heiji kissed her softly, tasting her lips, and his hand run through her back to hold her waist. She joined the kiss as soon as she recovered from the initial shock, and moving a hand to hold his neck, deepened the kiss, tongues dancing and intertwining shyly at first, but more appasionate as time passed. They'd lost count of time when they finally let go of each other, but didn't mind that as much as all the time they still had left.

"So," Heiji said, grinning, "Do I sleep on the sofa tonight?"

"Mmmm... no, only the omamori and the trousers... you stay here".

  
****************

"Ran..."

"Hmm?"

"Are you tired?"

Ran rolled to face Shinichi, who hugged her from behind. "Not that much. Why?"

"How do you think those two are doing in the other room?"

"I'm sure they're fine... don't worry that much."

"Ok..." Shinichi hugged her tighter. "Ran..."

"What..."

"You said you weren't tired?"

****************************************************************************

Fin

************

Ok, that's all!! Now I can say I like the fic more than before... a little at least ^__^

Well, tell me what you think of it!! Liked it, hated it, both things?

Oh, one thing I had to tell all of you: don't think Ran told Kazuha all her story with Shinichi!! That will take a whole fanfic!! I'll work on it as soon as I find time ^__^

And I think that's all. Dômo arigatô gozaimasu to all the people who read the fic, specially to those who took their time to review!!

Aichan


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